Investigation of nanostructured platinum-nickel supported on the titanium surface as electrocatalysts for alkaline fuel cells

This study involves the formation of nanostructured platinum-nickel supported on the titanium surface catalysts using the galvanic displacement technique and investigation of their electrocatalytic activity toward the oxidation of borohydride, methanol and ethanol in an alkaline media by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. Scanning electron microscopy, Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction were used to characterize the surface structure, composition and morphology. The nanoPt(Ni)/Ti and nanoPt/Ti catalysts exhibited a higher catalytic efficiency to the oxidation of borohydride, ethanol and methanol as compared with that of pure Pt. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.